Working the waiver wire is pivotal to succeeding in fantasy basketball. With so many games, injuries and endless shifts in rotations throughout the marathon campaign, we'll need to source stats from free agency to maximize imaginary rosters.
A willingness to entertain competition for the last few spots on your fantasy hoops roster can prove rewarding. When curating this fluid collective of statistical contributors, it helps to consider your end-of-bench players in direct competition with the talent floating in free agency.
The goal of this weekly series is to identify players available in at least half of ESPN leagues at each position. Some nominations are specialists capable of helping in one or two categories, while others deliver more diverse and essential statistical offerings.
In the breakdowns below, I've ordered players at each position with the priority of acquisition in mind, rather than roster percentage in ESPN leagues.
Point guard
Derrick White, San Antonio Spurs (Rostered in 34 percent of ESPN leagues): During his past 15 games, all starts, White has averaged 14.5 PPG, 8.1 combined assists and rebounds and 2.2 combined blocks and steals all while sinking 47.2 percent of his shots beyond the arc. The Spurs seem to have done it again in regard to finding a backcourt gem at the end of the first round.
Patrick Beverley, LA Clippers (8.7 percent): Doc Rivers is allocating more trust to Beverley of late. And by trust, I mean minutes and increased distribution duties, resulting in 32.3 MPG and two combined blocks and steals to go with 10.6 combined rebounds and dimes. I'd want to pursue Beverley only in deeper leagues and more specifically roto formats given his ability to drive value in defensive metrics.
Deep additions (players available in at least 90 percent of ESPN leagues): Shabazz Napier (2.7 percent) becomes an interesting scoring microwave off the pine for Brooklyn now that Spencer Dinwiddie will miss more than a month with a thumb injury.
Shooting guard
Tomas Satoransky, Washington Wizards (34.9 percent): In the wake of John Wall's season-ending injury, Satoransky has emerged as a valuable and versatile statistical asset. With 11.3 combined dimes and boards to go with 1.3 3PG and 1.6 SPG during his past 12 games, all starts. The market is lagging a bit in recognizing his value likely due to the lack of scoring pop (11.9 PG during this sample), but with positive contributions across multiple categories, it's time to appreciate the sum of Satoransky's game.
Terrence Ross, Orlando Magic (21.1 percent): Found at 12th among shooting guards on the Player Rater the past 15 days, Ross is draining 3s and swiping steals at stellar rates during this successful sample. While he could be dealt in the coming weeks if the Magic conclude they won't be paying him this summer, Ross should likely sustain or even improve his shooting volume to finish out this contract year.
Deep additions: Mikal Bridges (5.5 percent) recently gained eligibility at shooting guard and brings rare defensive upside from the position. There isn't much in the way of scoring for Bridges, but he should produce a nice blend of 3-pointers and "stocks" (blocks plus steals) during his rookie campaign.
Small forward
Kelly Oubre Jr., Phoenix Suns (42.8 percent): Speaking of defensive assets from the Suns, Oubre has been a great source of blocks and steals the past two weeks and isn't afraid to go through a heat check from deep once per quarter.
Danny Green, Toronto Raptors (20.8 percent): As a complementary piece in the Kawhi Leonard blockbuster deal Green has been awesomely productive for the Raptors; he's matching a career-best with 2.4 3PG to go with 1.7 combined blocks and steals.
PJ Tucker, Houston Rockets (13.5 percent): Another defensive dynamo without a ton of offensive pop, Tucker has 15 steals in his past five games and provides enough rebounding production to consider him as a utility option in rotisserie leagues.
Cedi Osman, Cleveland Cavaliers (12.2 percent): Some big splash games filled with 3-pointers and strong peripheral production has propelled Osman to relevance in 12-team leagues as a streaming option given this recent surge in scoring and playmaking.
Power forward
Marvin Williams, Charlotte Hornets (10.5 percent): Overlooked by the market likely because he's an older vet without much upside, Williams merits more attention given his surge in production since Cody Zeller's injury. Williams has had to play bigger in some lineups, and this has led to some solid rebounding results, and he's consistently hitting from beyond the arc the past two weeks, as well.
Jonathan Isaac, Orlando Magic (5.8 percent): As you can see, it's a thin week at power forward on the free-agent market, which means you might want to prospect for upside in deeper leagues with Isaac's exciting blend of blocks and shooting production.
Deep additions: The Mavs' Maximilian Kleber (0.7 percent) is a unique 3-and-D power forward who combines decent results from 3-point range with a surprisingly stellar block percentage.
Center
Dewayne Dedmon, Atlanta Hawks (22.7 percent): A trade in the next few weeks could move Dedmon to a backup role in a new destination, but while he's still in Atlanta, I find he provides unique production as a stretch five; he has averaged four combined 3-pointers and blocks the past week.
Jahlil Okafor, New Orleans Pelicans (18 percent): At the expense of the Pelicans' defensive rating, Okafor has become a frontcourt staple in the wake of Anthony Davis' finger injury. With 19.8 PPG and 10.8 RPG the past week, Jah is proving that despite his defensive decencies, he can still produce on an NBA floor.
Ante Zizic, Cleveland Cavaliers (12.1 percent): Just 22 years old and now finally earning regular minutes auditioning for a young Cavs team, Zizic has averaged 16.2 PPG, 8.3 RPG, 1.3 combined blocks and steals while shooting 60.3 percent from the floor the past six games, five of them starts.
Deep additions: Bismack Biyombo (3.5 percent) is worth considering if you need boards and blocks. I'd be most comfortable streaming him for a game or two when in need versus trusting him over a larger sample of matchups.
